1. "Don't take this the wrong way. I mean no disrespect to Dave Joerger (his successor as Memphis coach). But anybody (the Grizzlies) hire, if he lets the players play the way they want to play, they're going to win. They know how to win. When I got there, they didn't know how to win."

My thought: This is largely true. It's not particularly generous to Joerger, suggesting than anyone could do the job he's doing (the phrase "I mean no disrespect" tips you off that some disrespect is on the way). But Hollins is right that any team with Marc Gasol, Mike Conley, Zach Randolph is going to win a bunch of games. I think he's also correct for taking some credit for teaching the Griz to win in the first place. Obviously, the players were a big part of that, too, but anyone who denies that Hollins was at least some part of that transformation is just being argumentative.

2. "They had an agenda of how they wanted to do things, and what they wanted to spend. I didn't fit into that. I can accept that. It's their prerogative. But when you look at the big picture, you say, ‘Wow, you've had some pretty good success.' If I were at FedEx, for instance, I wouldn't fire the employees who made it successful."

My thought: I've written a gazillion times that I wouldn't have let Hollins walk. But if Hollins thinks Fred Smith would tolerate public criticism of management decisions by employees -- even highly effective employees -- he's deluding himself.

3. "I didn't speak out on the (Rudy Gay) trade. I was asked a question. I said I hated to trade Rudy. We were winning, and it was the best team we've had, with him on the floor. With (Pera and Levien), it was economics. I understand small-market economics. Champagne taste, bare budget. They chose to go that way because it saved a lot of money. If you want to make a decision, be up-front and tell everybody why. That's fine. But don't try to say it's because of a young player's inefficiency. That's not why you traded him."

My thought: Yeah, this is just dumb. Of course Gay's inefficiency is why the Grizzlies traded him. Randolph and Gasol make plenty of money, too. The Grizzlies certainly could have moved them. Why did they deal Gay instead? Because he was wildly inefficient. Indeed, that inefficiency is why the Grizzlies improved after they dealt Gay, and why the Toronto Raptors improved after they dealt him this year.

4. "Don't put out there that they got rid of the coach because he doesn't communicate well, he's too hard on players, that they want to create a friendly culture. That's all propaganda. Just say, 'His numbers were too high for what we wanted to pay.' "

My thought: Hollins wasn't let go because his numbers were too high. He was let go because he and management had different styles, as is demonstrated once again in this piece. It's not that Hollins didn't communicate well. He communicated in a way that fit Mike Heisley just fine. But he and Jason Levien never figured out how to communicate with each other effectively. Why is that so hard to understand?

5. "For a while, it was very hard to accept. For a while, I was in a depressed state. When something like that happens, you blame yourself. You wonder what you could have done differently. At some point, you come to grips with it. It had nothing to do with me. They made that decision because that's the decision they wanted to make ... I'm happy for Zach, Tayshaun, Mike Conley, Marc Gasol, Tony Allen. All those guys I've coached, I'm excited for them. I would be wrong to root against them having success. I would even be wrong to root against the Grizzlies to have success. I've been fired before. Life is too short to be miserable."

My thought: If I were in Hollins' position, I'd certainly root against the Grizzlies. That's human nature, right? It's also human nature to be depressed when you have waited your whole life for an opportunity, done brilliantly with that opportunity, and you get let go anyway. The hope is that Hollins gets offered another head coaching job. I'm not sure these interviews help the cause, but the man worked too hard, and did too well, not to get another shot.